Circular knitting machine



y 6, 1953 w. M. GOLASKI 2,833,132

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed June 2, 1955 I INVENTOR.

WALTER M. GOLASKI ATTORNEY United States Patent CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Walter M. Golaski, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application June 2, 1955, Serial No. 512,711

2 Claims. (Cl. 668) My invention relates to a circular knitting machine of the type which is usually used for manufacturing stockings or other seamless articles.

A machine of this type includes a fixed bed plate assembly and a rotary sleeve which carries the needle cylinder and which is supported by, and rotates relative to, the bed plate assembly. In such machines the bearing surface of the rotary sleeve abutted a corresponding surface of the fixed bed plate assembly with consequent friction and wear on the contacting surfaces.

It is therefore one object of the invention to produce an improved construction in which the friction between the abutting surfaces of the rotary sleeve and of the fixed bed plate assembly is greatly reduced.

A still further object of the invention is to effect the improvement above set forth in a practical and inexpensive manner.

These and other objects are attained by my invention as set forth in the following specification and as set forth in the accompanying drawing in which:

The drawing is a fragmentary, vertical sectional view of a circular knitting machine embodying my invention, only those parts of the conventional machine which are indispensible to the understanding of the invention being shown.

Referring to the drawing, designates the fixed bed plate of a conventional machine which is supported by a housing, not shown and which supports the driven sleeve 12 which, in turn, supports the needle cylinder also not shown. Sleeve 12 includes a horizontal base 14 which is confined between bed plate 10 and clamping plate 16 which Patented May 6, 1958 is secured to the bed plate as 18. Sleeve 12 is rotated by any suitable means such as gear 22 which is driven by shaft 24.

In conventional machines, surface 28 of the sleeve base 14 abutted, and moved against, surface 26 of clamping plate 16, and there was a void between surface 30 of the bed plate and surface 32 of sleeve 12. The result was that friction and Wear developed between the only abutting vertical surfaces 26 and 28. In order to eliminate this defect, I space surface 26 from surface 28 and I provide antifriction bearings 34. Also, in the usually empty space between surfaces 30 and 32 I provide other antifriction bearings 36 which distribute the thrust and make for better balance.

It will be seen that, by this simple expedient, the friction and the power input are reduced and, hence, that the operation of the machine is consequently improved.

It will also be seen that this improvement can be incorporated in the machine easily, at little expense, and without material alteration of the conventional structure of the machine.

What I claim is:

1. A circular knitting machine including a fixed horizontal bed plate, a vertical rotary sleeve for supporting the needle cylinder of the machine, said sleeve having a horizontal base resting on said bed plate, a clamping plate resting on said base and secured to said bed plate, a first antifriction bearing between a vertical wall of said sleeve and an adjacent vertical wall of said clamping plate, and a second antifriction bearing intermediate a second vertical surface of said sleeve and a vertical surface of said bed plate.

2. A circular knitting machine including a bed plate, having an annular opening therein, a rotary sleeve adapted to support the needle cylinder and having a horizontal base resting on said bed plate, an annular flange depending from said horizontal base and spaced inwardly from the Wall of said opening and an antifriction bearing intermediate said fiange and the wall of said opening.

Steere Feb. 9, 1937 Stover Oct. 13, 1942 

